His first book, a collection of short stories entitled You Are Not a Stranger Here, was released in 2002 and was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award and the 2003 Pulitzer Prize[2] and spent some time on The New York Times Best Seller list. It was also named one of the five best books of the year by Time.[4] His book Imagine Me Gone was on the 2016 National Book Award Longlist for Fiction.

Union Atlantic is Haslett's debut novel. The story follows several different characters: Doug Fanning, a self-made banker; Charlotte Graves, a retired school teacher; Charlotte's brother Henry, the President of the New York Federal Reserve bank; and Nate Fuller, an 18-year-old, infatuated with both Doug and Charlotte. It has been translated into twelve languages. It won a Lambda Literary Award for best work of gay men's fiction published in 2010.